Santander unveils voice recognition identify checks

Santander customers can now access telephone banking using voice recognition technology instead of a security pin.

Customers can verify their identity by calling from a unique phone number and repeating a short phrase.

The bank said ‘Voice ID’ security, which can analyse over 100 characteristics of the human voice, is sophisticated enough that it can even detect a recording of someone’s voice being played over the telephone.

Customers who want to use the service will be asked to repeat a short phrase several times during an initial enrolment process to create their unique ‘voice print’, much like a fingerprint.

When a customer then calls in future, they will be asked to say the phrase again, so that the technology can compare their verification voice print with the one that was created during their enrolment.

Santander said it will also use ‘Phone ID’ software, which can identify a customer through the phone number they are calling from, so customers will need to call from a phone number that is uniquely registered to them, such as a mobile number.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, head of customer interactions at Santander UK said: “Our innovative combination of Phone ID and Voice ID gives our customers an incredibly simple and seamless way to authenticate themselves when calling us – removing the need to remember and key in numbers while ensuring the highest standards of security.

“The human voice contains over 100 voice characteristics we can use to ensure that a caller is who they say they are, further protecting our customers’ accounts from fraudsters.”

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